The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.
Database systems may include databases that have millions of records. To maintain the efficiency and integrity of the databases, matching rules may be used to identify duplicates. Further, database updates that involve millions of records may significantly affect the performance of the database system. As such, database designers continuously try to develop techniques that can improve the performance of the database as related to matching and updating.